I am responding to the notion that storing energy is a new issue with solar.

Storing various forms of energy in a usable, safe, non-polluting, cost-effective and portable form is and has been the only problem with solar and all other forms of energy.

Oil is one of the few products that meets these criteria ... except for that one little ”non polluting” thing.

We have plenty of technologies to get solar energy, wind energy, geothermal, oceanic, biological, and (unfortunately) coal energy. We have a great deal of energy — way more than enough, and we know how to fetch it. It’s the retention and transport that tends to make most of these forms of energy a problem.

A few years back when fuel cells were all the rage, everyone was saying they are not the solution to our problems: where does the hydrogen to make the cells work come from? Fuel cells provide portable storage of energy — and that’s all they do.

Where we get the hydrogen is: all of the above sources, which are cheap and plentiful and can be used, in part, to ”manufacture” hydrogen.

Various other forms of storage are also being worked on.

The problem is in making these technologies cost-effective.

Tom

The point was that only in the last decade have we been able to make substantial Solar Energy in the quantity that it needs to be stored for the future use and hence the problem arises. Yes, the problem is nothing new and the economic factors do indeed play a major role in the spreading of alternate sources of energy. It is slow progress but we are getting there and with each passing day, hopefully that process will step up and be faster.